Opinion by HUNT, J. THE PEOPLE, EX. REL. PETER CAGGER, v. THOMAS DOLAN, AND OTHERS, ASSESSORS OF THE CITY OF Albany. Assessment on Bank Stock-No reduction for Debts—-Laws 1866, ch. 761. A shareholder in a banking association who has been assessed upon the value of his shares therein under the Act of 1866 (Ch. 761), is not entitled at the hands of the assessor to a reduction of such valuation on account of his debts. THIS is an appeal from an order of the General Term of the Third District, commanding the Appellants as assessors of the city of Albany, to reduce the assessment against the relator to the sum of one dollar, in accordance with the request contained in his affidavit. The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court. A. J. Parker for the Appellants. Samuel Hand for the Respondents. HUNT, J.-The relator resides in the Sixth Ward of the city of Albany. The National Commercial Bank, in which he owns eleven hundred and four shares of stock of the value of $20 each, is located in the Fourth Ward of the same city. Under the Act of the legislature of this State, passed April 23, 1866, the relator was assessed $22,800 as the par valuation of his bank shares. The Defendants are the board of assessors of the city of Albany. On the 24th of September, 1866, the relator presented to the said Defendants an affidavit, in which he stated "that the value of the personal estate owned by him does not exceed the sum of one dollar, after deducting his just debts and his property invested in the stocks of corporations, liable to be taxed therefor," and claimed that his assessment should be reduced in accordance therewith. The Defendants refused to reduce the assessment, and the relator moved at Special Term for a mandamus directing them to make such deduction. This motion was granted, and upon appeal by the Defendants to the General Term of the Third District, the order was affirmed. The Defendants now bring their appeal to this Court. Opinion by HUNT, J. The Respondents claim that the assessment and taxation upon bank shares, authorized by the Act of April 23, 1866, stand upon the same basis as all other taxation of personal property, under the laws of this State; that the relator was entitled to deduct from such assessment his personal indebtedness, and that he was subject to taxation upon the balance only. The Appellants claim that there was intended to be established a distinct system of taxation in reference to shares of bank stock, by which they were to be assessed and taxed upon their actual value, independent of the condition or circumstances of the owner. By the general tax law of the State each individual is assessable in the town or ward in which he resides, and not elsewhere, for all personal estate owned by him. The assessors of each town, between the first days of May and July, are required to ascertain by diligent inquiry the names of the taxable inhabitants, and the taxable property, real or personal, in their respective towns. In the fourth column of the assessment roll, to be prepared by them, it is directed that the assessors shall set down "the full value of all the taxable personal property owned by each person, after deducting the just debts owing by him" (1 R. S., 1st Ed., 391). It is the duty of the assessors to meet at a time appointed to hear complaints, and make corrections of their rolls. It was at the time thus appointed that the relator made the affidavit before set forth, and it is conceded that, in regard to taxation for personal property generally, it was sufficient to entitle him to the deduction claimed. The legislation upon the subject of the taxation of banks has been heretofore regulated upon a plan by itself, and a reference to this system will aid us in reaching a correct conclusion upon the question before us. The general system of legislation upon the subject-matter of a statute may be taken into view, to aid the construction of a particular statute relating to the same subject. (Holbrook v. Holbrook, 1 Pick. 248, 254; Mendon v. County of Worcester, 10 Pick. 241.) The first statute of which I am aware that imposed a tax upon bank stock as such, was that of 1823 (Sess. Laws, 1823, p. 390), which enacted" that all goods, chattels, bonds, ... bank stock, .. Opinion by HUNT, J. shall be subject to taxation under the meaning of this act." By section fourteen the officers were required to deliver to the assessors a statement of their real estate, and the amount of their capital stock paid in or secured to be paid in, and the assessors were directed to insert in the roll " the amount of such real and personal property." It was further provided, that it should be the duty of the cashier or treasurer to pay the amount of such tax, "and to deduct the same from the dividends of the stockholders, in proportion to the stock held by them respectively, except the stock held by the State, or by literary or charitable institutions, from which no deductions shall be made" (§ 15). The companies were further authorized to commute for such taxes, by the payment of ten per cent. upon the amount of their dividends or income. The imposition of this tax was made upon the recommendation of the then Comptroller of the State, and was the subject of complaint on the part of the banks. It continued, however, to be the law of the State until the adoption of the Revised Statutes. By the Revised Statutes of 1828 it was provided that "all moneyed or stock corporations, deriving an income or profit from their capital or otherwise," should be liable to taxation on their capital (1 R. S., 1st Ed., 414). The assessment of such corporations was made, 1, upon the real estate owned by them, if any; and 2, upon the capital stock actually paid in and secured to be paid in, excepting therefrom the sums paid for real estate, and the amount of such capital stock held by the State, and by any incorporated literary or charitable institutions. The Safety Fund Banking System, which came into operation in the year 1829, required that the capital of all banks should be fully paid in. At this time, then, banks as such were taxable upon the amount of their capital stock paid in, with the two exceptions stated, to wit, of stock held by the State, and by literary or charitable institutions. It was thus taxable whatever might be the diminished value of its shares, unless it was able to show that it was not in the receipt of any income or profit whatever (Ib. 416). So, on the other hand, it was subject to no greater taxation, however valuable its shares might Opinion by HUNT, J. become. (Bank of Utica v. The City of Utica, 4 Paige, 399.) Its nominal capital was the standard of taxation, although its shares might be reduced below that value, or might be greatly above it. By the act of Dec. 7, 1847 (4 R. S., Edm. Ed., 151), it was enacted that all individual bankers and all banking associations “shall be subject to taxation on the full amount of actual capital paid in or secured to be paid in, as such capital, by them severally, at the actual market value of such securities, to be estimated by the Comptroller, without any reduction for the debts of such individual banker or banking association." It was also enacted that taxes upon incorporated companies should be demanded from the president of the company, and that the same should "be paid out of the funds of the company, and be ratably deducted from the dividends of those stockholders whose stock was taxed, or shall be charged upon such stock if no dividends be afterward declared" (1 R. S., Edm. Ed., 377, § 18.) In the year 1853 the system was amended by providing that the assessment upon incorporated companies should be upon their real estate, upon the amount of their capital stock paid in or secured to be paid in, together with the amount of all surplus or reserved funds exceeding ten per cent. of their capital, but deducting, as before, the amount of said stock that should be held by the State, or by any literary or charitable institution (1 R. S., Edm. Ed., 375). And again, in the year 1857 (Sess. Laws, 1857, 2d vol., p. 1), the legislature enacted that this assessment, with the exceptions aforesaid, should be upon the capital stock, together with its surplus profits exceeding ten per cent., "at its actual value," thus substituting the principle of ascertaining the value of the stock to be assessed, instead of taxing upon its nominal amount. The law continued in this form without alteration, with the exception of the invalid law of 1864, hereafter noticed, until the year 1865. The National Bank system had then become estab lished, and the State Banks were rapidly organizing themselves under that authority. The legislature in that year passed an act (Laws 1865, ch. 97, p. 172) providing for such transfers, legalizing Opinion by HUNT, J. and facilitating them. In section ten of the act, they enacted that all the shares in any of the said banking associations, held by any person or body corporate, should be included in the valuation of the personal property of such person or body corporate in the assessment of taxes in the town or ward where such banking association is located, and not elsewhere. This act having been declared by the Supreme Court of the United States to be illegal on a ground not here material, another act was passed by the legislature of New York on the 23d day of April, 1866, Laws 1866, p. 1647, being the act under which the present question arises. By the first section of this act it is provided that hereafter, no tax shall be assessed upon the capital of any bank. but the stockholders in such bank shall be assessed and taxed on the value of their shares of stock therein. The assessment is to be made in the place where the bank is located, and not elsewhere, and the proportionate value of the real estate of the bank is to be deducted from the stock of each shareholder. We thus see that, for a period of nearly fifty years, the policy of the legislature in regard to the taxation of bank capital and bank shares has been uniform. The stock has been taxed at its nominal value, without deduction for debts or charge for surplus, or as more recently at its actual value. We see that as to individual bankers, it was expressly enacted that the capital employed by them should be taxed at the market value of their securities employed, and without deduction for their individual debts. We see, again, that the taxation of the capital was considered as the taxation of the shares, when the legislature enact that such taxes shall be deducted from the dividends of the shareholders, or be charged against dividends subsequently to be made. In all of these statutes the assessment and taxation was based upon the value of the stock of the incorporation. The debts and credits and actual funds of the bank established the subject of taxation, and the condition or circumstances of the individual owning the shares did not enter into the account. We come then to the inquiry whether, under the acts of 1865 and 1866, the same system is carried out, and the shares are to be assessed and taxed at their value, |